Contacting customers to see if they are ready to start?

[KVA]

Would you do this? I had a repeat customer email me roughly a week and a half ago asking me to diagnose some outdoor outlets not working and other stuff. I said sure let me know when your ready and i'll be glad to help but haven't heard from them yet. They are also technically friends more like acquaintances, she got me a lot of work with her other family members.

Anyway next week we are going to have a stretch of beautiful weather and I don't have much lined up. Would it be weird to email her and say "Hi I have some days open next week and we are going to have real nice weather would you like me to come out?"

 

[gadfly56]

Would you do this? I had a repeat customer email me roughly a week and a half ago asking me to diagnose some outdoor outlets not working and other stuff. I said sure let me know when your ready and i'll be glad to help but haven't heard from them yet. They are also technically friends more like acquaintances, she got me a lot of work with her other family members.

Anyway next week we are going to have a stretch of beautiful weather and I don't have much lined up. Would it be weird to email her and say "Hi I have some days open next week and we are going to have real nice weather would you like me to come out?"

Absolutely not a problem in my opinion. Better than her calling you and saying "Where the heck have you been?" Especially true if no firm date was set up front. The longer you wait, the more they may decide they can live with the bum outlets and "other stuff".

 

[ritelec]

Tough call.

I'd say lay low.

I have my eye on a job that I'm itching to call back on. I actually pass it to see if there's anything happening or if they got someone else.

It's good to stay in touch I think.......but you can't appear too hungry. They know you're around.

Go Fishing.

 

[cowboyjwc]

At first I was going to say no, don't do that, but I changed my mind after I saw your reason.

Had a guy call me one day and say that he might have a job coming up that he was looking at and he would call me if he got it. On a Thursday night (six weeks later) I get a call that I can come out and start boxing this job on Friday. What job? The one I told you about? Huh? Six weeks ago. Dude, I can't get out there for at least two weeks, since I never heard from you I lined up a bunch of other jobs. But you said you'ld do it.:weeping: Yeah, SIX WEEKS AGO!

 

[ritelec]

Reread the question..............yes a call wouldn't hurt.



But go fishing anyway....ha ha ha ha

 

[KVA]

Tough call.

I'd say lay low.

I have my eye on a job that I'm itching to call back on. I actually pass it to see if there's anything happening or if they got someone else.

It's good to stay in touch I think.......but you can't appear too hungry. They know you're around.

Go Fishing.

I think fishing for money is better:thumbsup: but yeah don't want to sound desperate. There's also a though in my mind she didn't recieve my response the first time because she usually replies to my emails the same day.

 

[Hv&Lv]

Would you do this? I had a repeat customer email me roughly a week and a half ago asking me to diagnose some outdoor outlets not working and other stuff. I said sure let me know when your ready and i'll be glad to help but haven't heard from them yet. They are also technically friends more like acquaintances, she got me a lot of work with her other family members.

Anyway next week we are going to have a stretch of beautiful weather and I don't have much lined up. Would it be weird to email her and say "Hi I have some days open next week and we are going to have real nice weather would you like me to come out?"

I have people (friends) do work for me sometimes, and I will tell them, "No rush, just when you can get to it". I would appreciate a call like that. That is exactly how the soldier course over my windows were fixed. A brick mason friend called and let me know he didn't have anything to do for a couple of weeks. Ditto for the friend that installs spray foam insulation. He called on a Friday and wanted to know if I still wanted it, that he could do it on Monday. Both were paid promptly (cash)

 

[KVA]

I'm going to contact her life is too short to worry about this crap. If she says yes cool if not next...

Lately I've been getting too much stuff on the "back burner"

I think from now on when someone calls me one of my first questions is going to be "when are you looking to get this done?" to weed out these people. If they say anything other then as soon as you can or now I'll say no problem call me when your ready and we can discuss everything then.

 

[Hv&Lv]

I'm going to contact her life is too short to worry about this crap. If she says yes cool if not next...

Lately I've been getting too much stuff on the "back burner"

I think from now on when someone calls me one of my first questions is going to be "when are you looking to get this done?" to weed out these people. If they say anything other then as soon as you can or now I'll say no problem call me when your ready and we can discuss everything then.

But you also have to understand that there are some people that are really in no hurry, and that "when you can" means just that. Call me and let me know when you have time. If you want to, put me on the schedule. Some things are really not that big of a deal.

 

[KVA]

But you also have to understand that there are some people that are really in no hurry, and that "when you can" means just that. Call me and let me know when you have time. If you want to, put me on the schedule. Some things are really not that big of a deal.

It's not a big deal to me. It's just I personally don't waste anyone's time until I'm ready to do things. Never understood really why someone would call a contractor when they have no intentions of getting it done right away? Why not just wait until your ready then make a call?

 

[Hv&Lv]

It's not a big deal to me. It's just I personally don't waste anyone's time until I'm ready to do things. Never understood really why someone would call a contractor when they have no intentions of getting it done right away? Why not just wait until your ready then make a call?

Perhaps she did. She contacted you and asked if you would diagnose some outlets. You told her "sure, let me know when you are ready". She could have took that as "I really don't want to do it, but I will if you beg me". She contacted you in the first place, you put her off IMHO.

 

[KVA]

Perhaps she did. She contacted you and asked if you would diagnose some outlets. You told her "sure, let me know when you are ready". She could have took that as "I really don't want to do it, but I will if you beg me". She contacted you in the first place, you put her off IMHO.

Nobody put her off she said in her initial email she wasn't ready yet that's why she got a reply "let me know when your ready"

 

[cowboyjwc]

Some people call when they're not ready, because they don't know if or when they will be ready. These days a lot of people are on very tight budgets. Maybe they think that they should get something fixed, call and inquire and find out it's going to cost $200 and then they say thank you because they are embarassed that they don't have $200 extra and will need the time or something to come along so they will have it.

Right now if they were selling houses for $100 a piece, the best I could do is run up and down the street yelling "ain't the cheap." I reach in my pocket and find a $5 bill that just means that I forgot to pay someone back the $5 I owe them.

 

[growler]

Would you do this? I had a repeat customer email me roughly a week and a half ago asking me to diagnose some outdoor outlets not working and other stuff. I said sure let me know when your ready and i'll be glad to help but haven't heard from them yet. They are also technically friends more like acquaintances, she got me a lot of work with her other family members.

Anyway next week we are going to have a stretch of beautiful weather and I don't have much lined up. Would it be weird to email her and say "Hi I have some days open next week and we are going to have real nice weather would you like me to come out?"

I don't think there is anything wrong with staying in contact with a customer. I don't like Email for this sort of thing and prefer a phone. I would normally call up just to make sure that she received the Email as you have not had a return message.

The idea is to let her know that you are not pushing but you will have some free time to schedule the work but if it's not convenient for them then a later time can be arranged.


This is business and people understand that you have to make a living and selling your time is part of that business.

 

[highvolts582]

What I see

What I see

When home owners complain about contractors not getting back I defend contractors. People ask us for things but keep themselves on the fence by saying things like not now when your not busy or in the winter or something and think that statements like these are sufficient for a response from your company. People may just sit there never call you to do the work and saying you did not get back them for six months. People Procrastinate like hell also. Its only human. Give them a call and say "hiiiiiiiiii its ( your name) . You mentioned (whatever they wanted done.) (when they "lightly hit on the subject") And you are just letting them know you did not forget about them. If they want work ask when is a great time. If they are not ready yet tell them to call you anytime when your ready. Main thing is get the ball back in there court. They may never mention it again but at least you showed them you are always there for them and will always be there for them. So they can tell everyone they know you and you kick ass this way you can make more money. That is what I try to do.

 

[hurk27]

I do not like doing business like this as it can really get your schedule messed up, I do get this often and it can be a bear to work with but I usually just tell them that when they are ready let me know and I will schedule them in.

I have one now that I'm waiting on them to gut the kitchen to run all new circuits, the house was built in 1978 and was an aluminum hack job, they had aluminum #12 ran for one kitchen receptacle circuit for all the counters and another ran for everything else including the dinning room, it was a wonder the house didn't burn down as they kept having receptacles burn up, I told them #12 was the incorrect size for a 20 amp circuit as it was only rated for 15 amps in aluminum, well they said they would call me when the kitchen is gutted, so I told them to give me a few days lead time so I can schedule them in.

This is the only way I can do it being a one man band.

 

[highvolts582]

Amen to that.

Amen to that.

, so I told them to give me a few days lead time so I can schedule them in.

This is the only way I can do it being a one man band.

Nothing worse then somebody saying Im ready and neeeeeeeeeed you Tomorrow. Sometimes you can make it happen but annoying. If I have something already scheduled NO GO.

 

[jaylectricity]

If you do contact her, specify a certain day when you would be available. "Hi, I'm actually going to have next Thursday free and was wondering if we could take care of your issues on that day."

 

[Strathead]

Reading through all of the threads, I didn't see anyone pick up on the OP's clarification that it is more of a friend. Along with that, I read in to the post that you are looking for work that week, but may be full shortly after. I think any of these cases are dynamic. In this case, if I get the dynamics correct, I would probably call back and offer a discount, or "buy now pay later", depending on the friend's financial situation and my relationship. I want the work, the friend feels they are cashing in on the friendship. I am not advocating doing a job for nothing.

 

[kwired]

I'm going to contact her life is too short to worry about this crap. If she says yes cool if not next...

Lately I've been getting too much stuff on the "back burner"

I think from now on when someone calls me one of my first questions is going to be "when are you looking to get this done?" to weed out these people. If they say anything other then as soon as you can or now I'll say no problem call me when your ready and we can discuss everything then.

You did say she is a friend - call and find out if she still wants it done if you want to do it. If she doesn't want it done or it is not in the budget right now the worst thing she will do is decline to have it done. What did you lose?

When home owners complain about contractors not getting back I defend contractors. People ask us for things but keep themselves on the fence by saying things like not now when your not busy or in the winter or something and think that statements like these are sufficient for a response from your company. People may just sit there never call you to do the work and saying you did not get back them for six months. People Procrastinate like hell also. Its only human. Give them a call and say "hiiiiiiiiii its ( your name) . You mentioned (whatever they wanted done.) (when they "lightly hit on the subject") And you are just letting them know you did not forget about them. If they want work ask when is a great time. If they are not ready yet tell them to call you anytime when your ready. Main thing is get the ball back in there court. They may never mention it again but at least you showed them you are always there for them and will always be there for them. So they can tell everyone they know you and you kick ass this way you can make more money. That is what I try to do.

When they are ready they very well have more work than what they originally asked for. Maybe even an addition or major rennovation, or HVAC guy is putting in a new system and maybe you can do that other work we talked about a long time ago while you are here.